| Rukin expedition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Adai rebellion | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kazakhs of Adai |
 Russia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Isa Tlenbaev [ru] |
Nikolai Rukin [ru] † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,000 | 40 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Whole squad annihilated | ||||||
| Russian conquest of Central Asia Campaigns and theaters | |
|---|---|
The Rukin expedition (Russian: Экспедиция отряда Рукина) was the first attempt to suppress the uprising on Mangyshlak, due to the incredible numerical superiority, as well as the mistakes of the head of the detachment, the campaign ended with the death of the Russians.
Expedition
Commander Rukin gathered 40 people in the Alexander Fort to suppress unrest in the steppe with a short sortie, when he went on a sortie, the detachment realized that it was surrounded by a huge force of 5,000 people, the Russians maneuvered for about a day and gained time, However, when the cartridges began to run out, negotiations began in the camp. Rukin told one Cossack:
Our business is bad. Here's my double-barrelled shotgun for you, take it and save yourself, as you know. There's nothing more we can do.
Rukin decided to negotiate. The Kazakhs cajoled him with words about the excellent attitude towards the prisoners and asked him to lay down his arms, the whole squad understood that this was stupid because A similar case occurred in 1717, when an entire detachment died due to the general's excessive credulity, however, Rukin was adamant when the Cossacks came out of hiding a whole crowd piled on them and killed almost everyone, taking 3 people prisoner. Rukin himself decided to shoot himself out of grief.
Aftermath
The victory over the detachment inspired the majority of the population of the peninsula, and the rebels began to attack local settlements, in particular the military capital Fort Alexandrovsky. Rukin was scalped and sent along with the prisoners into slavery to the Khan of Khiva, after the campaign of 1873 they were released.
Reference
- Yudin 1894, pp. 149–150.
- Potto 1900, pp. 124–127.
- Terentyev 2022, pp. 73–74.
- Tursunova 1977, pp. 83–84.
- Dubovikov 2017, p. 86.
Bibliography
- Dubovikov, A. (2017). Участники хивинских походов о контактах с хивинцами и казахами [Participants of the Khiva campaigns about contacts with Khivans and Kazakhs] (in Russian). Orenburg: Вестнрк оренбургского государственного педагогического университета. ISSN 2303-9922.
- Terentyev, Mihail (2022). История завоевания Средней Азии [The history of the conquest of Central Asia] (in Russian). Volume 2. ISBN 978-5-4481-1327-7.
- Potto, V. (1900). Гибель отряда рукина в 1870 [The death of Rukin's detachment in 1870] (in Russian). Istorichesky Vestnik.
- Yudin, P. (1894). Адаевский бунт на полуострове Мангышлак в 1870 [Adaevsky riot on the Mangyshlak peninsula in 1870] (in Russian).
- Tursunova, M. (1977). Казахи мангышлака во второй половине XIX века [Kazakhs of Mangyshlak in the second half of the XIX century] (in Russian). Alma-Ata: Наука казахской ССР.